• We are very excited to introduce David Spear to our roster of artists!  His photography may be the polar opposite of Walker Evans or Dorthea Lange; completely lacking the judgmental aspect of the outsider looking in, Spear’s work celebrates the vibrant and humming humanity of the Appalachian people without the lens of judgment or social polemic.  Welcome, David — we’re proud to have you.

• The Appalachian Photographers Project features 18 photographers from the Southern Appalachian states.  Their work is a broad and varied view of the Appalachian South.  Our own Maury Gortemiller is represented.

• It’s a great month for music. Both Southern Cultures and Oxford American have produced Southern music issues and both are accompanied by CDs filled with gems.  “Well Whatever” by The Kingsbury Manx is currently at the top of my playlist.

Jane Allen Nodine, Professor of Art and Director of the Curtis R. Harley Art Gallery at the University of South Carolina Upstate, presents a series of encaustic paintings whose scorched surfaces recall household objects and familiar patterns.


Elin O’Hara Slavick, Distinguished Professor of Art at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, gives us a varied range of pieces, many of which focus on the devastation of Hiroshima. Her recent work Bomb After Bomb: A Violent Cartography, (Charta, 2007) was well received and featured a foreword by Howard Zinn.

Christopher McNulty, Associate Professor of Art at Auburn University, uses repetition, pattern, and labor-intensive techniques to explore the mundanity of daily life. His work demonstrates a command of the quantifiable and an adept use of pattern to encounter the ceaseless repetition of modernity.


We couldn’t be more proud to have these artists on board, so do make them feel welcome.

• We would like to say thank you to all those who came out last night for the Southern Writers Reading Series, and we hope that you enjoyed YHP Editor Ryan Galloway’s short fiction. Stay tuned for more Southern literary events.
]]> http://www.yellowhammerpress.com/2009/08/13/thursday-things-we-like-for-8-13-art-in-troy/feed/ 0 http://www.yellowhammerpress.com/2009/08/10/art-at-yhp/ http://www.yellowhammerpress.com/2009/08/10/art-at-yhp/#comments Mon, 10 Aug 2009 15:55:37 +0000 Brannon http://www.yellowhammerpress.com/?p=945 It is my pleasure to introduce the Art section of Yellowhammer Press, offering the first online space for contemporary and emerging Southern art (or at least the first one that takes a few steps away from ceramic roosters). We look forward to exploring issues of Southern identity and its impact on artists and their work as our database of artists continues to grow.

Our inaugural offering presents twelve talented artists who have chosen to share their work on Yellowhammer Press, and we are fortunate to have them.

• Michelle Allee began her career as a faux-finish decorative painter, and her interest in textured surfaces continues to guide her work, which largely focuses on feminine imagery.
• Memphis-born Brian Bishop captures unnoticed encounters and memories, relying primarily on encaustic to vividly bring intangible moments to life.
• Michael Brodeur’s work hints at the sculptural, his subject matter consisting of unusual still lifes, both fanciful and macabre.
• Michael Crespo makes eerily sparse use of light, creating a distinctly otherworldly narrative as a backdrop to his subjects.
• Pam Beagle-Daresta’s colorful landscapes give way to her more recent foray into stark expressive figures; authenticity of human expression underpins her collection of subject matter.
• Shadowy equine forms loom large in Phil Garrett’s paintings and prints, providing a window into an ethereal aspect of nature.
• Maury Gortemiller’s lens discovers evidence of the changing South, photographing often ironic objects of cultural nostalgia.
• The bright world of Madeleine Hamilton infuses her whimsical art with vivacious color, imbuing even her wistful cross sculptures with a sense of playfulness.
• Dale Kennington portrays scenes of the public from a distance; her voyeuristic narratives are accentuated by a bold use of large expanses of shadow.
• David Key offers a glimpse of what remains of an increasingly rare form of rural life in his photographs of two brothers, Howard and Herbert; his waterscapes are a departure from that corporeal ruggedness, but both series underscore the relentlessness of nature and time.
• Bonnie Melton makes use of textures and layers to give life to imagery that is vaguely recognizable yet remains intangible.
• The repetitive patterns in Katherine Mitchell’s work are reminiscent of grids, quilts, and even algebraic expressions, while introducing an element of inconsistency to create a tension between the work’s systematic structure and the unexpected defiance of that structure.
]]> http://www.yellowhammerpress.com/2009/08/10/art-at-yhp/feed/ 2 http://www.yellowhammerpress.com/2009/07/15/thursday-things-we-like-13-alabama-ghosts-a-musician-you-should-know-and-how-to-die-with-dignity/ http://www.yellowhammerpress.com/2009/07/15/thursday-things-we-like-13-alabama-ghosts-a-musician-you-should-know-and-how-to-die-with-dignity/#comments Thu, 16 Jul 2009 03:43:27 +0000 Ryan http://www.yellowhammerpress.com/?p=378 Many a Southern school child grew up reading Kathryn Tucker Windham’s 13 Alabama Ghosts and Jeffrey. Though she may be well known for this charming staple of Southern folklore, her life and literary range reach far beyond one seminal work.  A journalist, folklorist, and utterly enthralling storyteller with a seemingly endless store of knowledge of local lore, this interview is a great way to satisfy your interest in graveyards, homecomings, funerals, and a world we’ve sadly lost.
• Photographer David Key’s “Howard and Herbert” series masterfully chronicles two aging brothers’ preparations for the afterlife.  It’s austere and honest without being heavy handed or morbid.  What he captures is a stark rural grace that’s well worth our attention. Their home and everything around it, including themselves, seems to be on the verge of collapsing back into the soil they worked for decades.
• If you don’t know Elizabeth Cotten, you should.  Born in North Carolina in 1895, “Libba” taught herself guitar and wrote a number of songs that have been endlessly covered.  Among them, “Shake Sugaree” and “Freight Train” are the most enduring.  Though she retired from making music for several decades, she was rediscovered when she became a housekeeper for the Seeger family (yes, the Seeger family) and made music until her death in 1987.
]]> http://www.yellowhammerpress.com/2009/07/15/thursday-things-we-like-13-alabama-ghosts-a-musician-you-should-know-and-how-to-die-with-dignity/feed/ 0